The first harmonised total diet study in Portugal: Vitamin D occurrence and intake assessment

Vitamin D acts in calcium and phosphate homeostasis and also as an immunomodulatory hormone. To estimate the vitamin D intake by the 'adults' and 'elderly' Portuguese populations TDS methodology was used, since in the absence of skin UVB exposure, food and supplements are the only vitamin D sources. Vitamin D was quantifiable in 78 (24 from the fish group) of the 164 TDS samples. Sea bream contained the most vitamin D (13.8 mu g/100 g), followed by plaice (9.2 mu g/100 g). MCRA software (semi-probabilistic approach) was used to estimate the me-dian vitamin D intake that ranged between 2.47 ('adults' 'males') -1.45 ('elderly' 'females') mu g/day, well below the Dietary Reference Values (5-15 mu g/day). Plaice, sea bream and sardine were the main contributors to intake. A prevalence of 94% inadequate vitamin D intake for 'adults' and 'elderly' was found based on the estimated average requirement of 10 mu g/day.

Automated summary

This study estimated the vitamin D intake of "adults" and "elderly" populations in Portugal using the TDS methodology. The results showed that the majority of people had inadequate vitamin D intake, well below the Dietary Reference Values.